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The purpose of this paper is to better understand the role of closeness and the relationships between social media influencers and their followers, and, more specifically, how social media influencers can effectively manage their human brands.

Two studies were conducted to explore social media influencers. Qualitative content analysis and modeling with path analysis were used to analyze the data.

Results found attractiveness and likeability to positively predict attitudes toward the influencer, word-of-mouth and purchase intentions, whereas similarity only predicted word-of-mouth from the follower. Closeness served as a moderator but had different effects. Closeness positively moderated the effect of attractiveness on purchase intentions; however, it had a negative effect with similarity on purchase intentions. Moreover, closeness moderated the effect of likeability on attitude toward the influencer.

This study was limited by the student sample as well as the students’ self-identification of a social media influencer. Future research should include experimental design manipulating well-known/followed or fictional social media influencers on different social media.

This paper explores the characteristics of social media influencers as well as the potential outcomes associated with influencers on social media. The implications for marketers and advertisers include a better understanding of how consumers engage with influencers on social media.

The role of closeness is identified as a moderator of consumers’ behaviors toward social media influencers.

This study aims to examine the role of social media influencers (SMI) in millennial behavioural intentions towards Islamic banks, from the perspective of both bank clients and non-clients.

Of the 484 Indonesian millennials in the sample, 278 were clients and 206 non-clients of Islamic banks. Factor analysis was used to examine the SMI dimension in the Islamic banking context. This study then used the partial least square to evaluate the proposed model and test the relationships between SMI, bank image, trust and behavioural intention.

Three SMI dimensions were confirmed, i.e. expertise, celebrity and similarity. For bank clients, the findings show that SMI has a significant influence on behavioural intention and reinforces bank image and trust. For non-clients, SMI does not have a significant impact on behavioural intentions but significantly strengthens bank image and trust.

Islamic bank managers can take benefit of this study findings by learning to foster the behavioural intentions of their millennial clients and non-clients using SMIs. Further, choosing the right SMIs for their Islamic bank is an important activity, and if they want to make a positive impact on existing and potential millennial clients, they need to choose popular millennials who are knowledgeable about the Islamic value compliance of Islamic banking services.

This study is an early study to explore SMI’s role in influencing the behavioural intentions of millennials towards Islamic banks.

Managing farm waste is a fundamental problem for farmers with economic, environmental and social impacts throughout the supply chain. Little research has explored innovative product solutions. This paper examines gleaning to reduce farm waste and proposes a resource-based Gleaning Innovation Framework which can lead to differentiated consumer products.

A multi-method approach, including descriptive company reviews, practitioner interviews and consumer surveys, evaluated how different participants in the food supply chain view the farm waste problem and the innovation of products through gleaning.

This research found that practitioners and consumers are cognizant and invested in reducing farm waste, with gleaning as a plausible solution. Future research includes gathering perspectives from retailers and other supply chain members, which may further develop the conceptualization of the gleaning innovation process.

Uniquely, the authors propose the Gleaning Innovation Framework that provides a platform for innovation across the supply chain to reduce farm waste. The research contributes to the farm waste debate with evidence that gleaning can assist the reduction of farm waste through product innovation. Developing innovations to reduce farm waste in sustainable and environmentally friendly ways would not only benefit the supply chain platform but also society.

This study aims to examine the effect of opinion leadership on individuals’ susceptibility to social influence, which eventually affects their adoption behavior and assess how these relationships vary with gender in new product adoption.

Data were collected based on a survey of young consumers regarding the adoption of new consumer electronics. The hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and multiple sample analyses.

The study finds that opinion leaders are more sensitive to influence from others when the mechanism of status competition is at work. Although consumers who are more susceptible to normative influence tend to adopt new products later than others, those who are more susceptible to status competition are more likely to adopt earlier. The results also provide evidence for gender differences. Female leaders are more susceptible to status competition, whereas male leaders are less sensitive to informational influence. The effects of susceptibility to normative influence and status competition on adoption behavior are stronger for female than for male consumers.

The overall structural model predicts an interesting relationship between individual influence and susceptibility, as well as the effects of these factors on adoption behavior. This study also provides deeper insights into the dynamics of the social influence mechanisms at work for each gender in new product adoption.

There exist many forms of discrimination. Different societies have developed varying approaches to the problem but most have evolved some legal prohibition. Of course there are many other ways in which the problem of discrimination can be tackled and this article will touch on some of those. However here the principal concern is with the law both as a tool for redressing disadvantage and as a social signal of the seriousness with which inequality is viewed.